Charismatic movement

The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity, with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata). It has affected most denominations in the United States, and has spread widely across the world.

The movement is deemed to have begun in 1960 in Anglicanism (through the Episcopal Church USA) and spread to other mainstream Protestant denominations, including other American Protestants by both Lutherans and Presbyterians by 1962, and to Catholicism by 1967. Methodists became involved in the charismatic movement in the 1970s.

The movement was not initially influential in evangelical churches. Although this changed in the 1980s in the so-called Third Wave, the movement was often expressed in the formation of separate evangelical churches such as Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement—neo-charismatic organisations that mirrored the establishment of Pentecostal churches. Many traditional evangelical churches remain opposed to the movement and teach a cessationist theology.

History

The classic Pentecostalism movement usually traces its origin to the early twentieth century, with the ministry of Charles F. Parham and the subsequent ministry of William Joseph Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival. Its unique doctrine involved a dramatic encounter with God, termed baptism with the Holy Spirit. Some believed that speaking in tongues was evidence for having had this experience.